Fracturing (“frac”) operations are used in the oil and gas industry to stimulate the production of oil and gas wells. Such operations require a large array of heavy machinery, which is typically brought to a well site by individual trucks, and assembled on site.
This approach has several disadvantages. Most obviously, the cost of operating multiple rigs is high because of the redundant personnel, fuel, and equipment expenditures associated with this approach. Another disadvantage of this approach is its environmental impact, primarily due to the large emissions and surface damage caused by multiple trucks. There are also safety issues inherent in connecting components from a variety of trucks at a well site, involving the assembly and disassembly of connections with both low and high pressure piping.
One such safety issue is the danger involved in removing long iron joints off of an iron trailer, where the joints are higher than a worker's head. Normally, these joints, which weigh anywhere from 45 to 200 pounds are handled manually by workers. This forces the workers to stand inside the wheels of a trailer to get enough leverage to remove the joints.
Accordingly, there is a need for a system and method for providing fracturing machinery to a well site which eliminates or alleviates the above disadvantages.